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Cicely Tyson Graces The Cover Of Elle’s Women In Hollywood Issue

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October 9, 2017

Photo credit: Terry Tsiolis 

We can’t love this enough! The legendary and timeless Cicely Tyson is one of Elle Magazine’s eight cover stars for its annual Women in Hollywood issue.

In it, Tyson talks about women who influenced her career, one being Vinnette Carroll, the first African American woman to direct a production on Broadway.

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“At the very beginning of my career, I had a teacher whose name was Vinnette Carroll; she directed a number of Broadway shows. She kept saying to me, ‘You know the problem with beautiful women? They tend to rely on their beauty.’ And I said, How wrong she is! I never think of myself as being beautiful. I thought, What are you talking about? I work so hard. And I did. But I learned from her how important it is to learn your craft. When all else fails, you will land on that, and that alone.”

With a career that spans six decades, Tyson has been bringing Black girl magic to Hollywood long before we could put a name on it. She not only blazed her own trail  as an actress who only accepted roles that captured the true essence of a Black woman, but she also became the first Black woman to win Best Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. 

Tessa Thompson added more Black girl magic to Elle’s November issue, as she is another one of its cover stars. 

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Photo credit: Terry Tsiolis

Thompson discussed “how traditional roles never worked for her”, explaining: “I think our ideas about what a young Black person or a young Mexican person or a young white person should be like weren’t as expansive then as they are now. It made me think I had to fit into a box. The one-dimensional girlfriend or the sassy Black friend—those weren’t going to work for me.” 

Elle’s 2017 Women in Hollywood also include: Laura Dern, Jessica Chastain, Margot Robbie, Riley Keough, Jennifer Lawrence, and Kathleen Kennedy. The issue is set to hit newsstands October 17. 

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